Crown of Blood

by D G Swank

  He frowned. “You can sleep, but only if you leave yourself completely open so I can do what I need to do while you sleep.”

  “I’ve already done that.”

  “But not in a house full of people.”

  True, but it didn’t matter. “I trust you.” Then I drifted off to sleep.

  When I awoke, the room was dark and the house was quiet, but Zane was sitting on the floor next to the bed, holding my hand.

  “It’s time,” he whispered.

  I tried to sit up but couldn’t. Panic dug its sharp claws into my mind. “Zane.”

  He brushed the hair from my forehead and gave me a gentle kiss. “Your energy’s almost gone. I’ll have to give you more of mine.”

  But I could tell he’d nearly depleted himself of energy too. He’d been killing himself to keep me alive.

  “Wait,” I said. “I can’t search this house for the book. It will have to be you.”

  His brow lifted. “Will it let me?”

  “If I tell her to.” I called out in a whisper, “Spirit of the book, we’re ready.”

  The mist seeped in from under the door and formed the trapped witch’s shadowy face. “You shouldn’t have waited so long. You’re nearly dead.” She sounded irritated.

  “Thanks for the concern,” Zane said dryly. “Will you lead me to you?”

  “If the daughter of Rebecca allows it.”

  Zane’s eyes narrowed. “Her mother’s name was Linnet.”

  “Think farther back, son of Theodos.”

  I cast Zane a glance. “I’m guessing your dad’s name is something like Robert or Ted.”

  “Mike.”

  “What’s she talking about?” I asked, then turned to the face in the mist. “Who are Rebecca and Theodos?”

  “All in good time,” she said in a coy voice. “I will lead the son of Theodos to the book.”

  Zane stood, looking leery, not that I blamed him. The book was playing a game and we were the chess pieces.

  “I’ll get the book then come get you. We’ll leave straightaway like you said,” he said.

  I nodded. It seemed like a logical plan, inasmuch as a person could have a rational plan for stealing a sentient book of evil spells.

  “Come this way,” the face in the mist said, then her features drifted away and the mist slipped through the crack of the door.

  He started to follow it, but I called out, “Zane. Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  I waited. The book had stopped calling to me, and Zane’s now-familiar magic had gone with him. I began to shiver even though I was covered in multiple blankets.

  I waited. And waited. I drifted out of consciousness but then jarred awake when Zane came back into the room. He immediately scooped me into his arms, blankets and all.

  “Where’s the book?” I asked quietly.

  “In the car,” he whispered. “I’ll need to glamour us to get out.”

  That was code for be quiet until we get into the car. But the jostling sent pain through my abdomen, eliciting a soft gasp of pain.

  He kissed my forehead as he paused at the threshold to the hall. Then, satisfied I hadn’t accidentally alerted anyone to our escape, he headed toward the kitchen and a back door.

  We’d made it outside, only to come face to face with Rowan, who could once again see through glamour.

  She blocked the gate to the front yard, standing with her feet hip-distance apart. She looked fierce and ready to take Zane on, no hesitation. “You took the book,” she said, “and now you’re kidnapping my sister.”

  “I’m saving her,” he said. “And as much as I hate it, the book will save her too.”

  “For a price,” Rowan said. “It’ll use her then toss her away.”

  “I plan to be there to catch her when she falls,” Zane said calmly. “I’m not leaving her, and I’m not letting her do this alone.”

  “You’ll let the book manipulate her?”

  “I’ll let Celeste make her own choices. She thinks the book is the only thing that can save her. We both know the risks involved.”

  “You don’t have a fucking clue about the risks,” she snapped, but something in her softened as her gaze fell on me. “But Celeste understands better than any of us do.”

  “You’ll let us go?” he asked.

  “Do I want to let you go? Hells, no. But I believe Celeste has a part to play, a role to fill, and I recognize the book is part of it.” Her voice turned to a low growl. “But if I find out that you betrayed her or failed to protect her, I’m coming for you, pretty boy. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  She stepped to the side, then said, her voice breaking, “May the gods go with you, Celeste.”

  “And with you too,” I said, then fell back into darkness.

  When I awoke this time, I was on my back in a field, lying on a pallet of the blankets. The sun was rising, filling the sky with soft pinks and blues. I loved sunsets and sunrises, but I didn’t have time to soak in this one. I was more intent on the scene front of me.

  Zane stood to my right with a burning torch and multiple candles. The book lay next to him, and a simple dagger lay across the top of it.

  He turned, as though sensing I was awake, and I realized our magics were so interconnected now, I could sense his fear and his hope this would work.

  “Hey,” he said, closing the distance and going down on one knee to get close to me. “I’m almost ready.”

  “You’ve been busy,” I murmured.

  “I’m not sure how to go about this, so I figured we’d mix a bunch of mystic traditions.”

  “Can’t hurt,” I said.

  “I don’t know, Celeste. For all I know, it might, but I don’t know what else to do.”

  “A pentagram,” I said. “Make a pentagram.” When he gave me a questioning look, I said, “I started using them in the woods on our farm. It boosted my ability to open the book.”

  “How’d you know how to do that?” he asked skeptically.

  “Donall. But I’m sure my father told him.”

  He nodded, his expression serious. “But don’t you need your sisters’ blood to open the book?”

  “No,” I said. “The book would have told us if more was needed. She’s eager to be set free.”

  “Set free?”

  “I suspect she’s been trapped in the book for a very long time. She was a witch, trapped by the Dark Set.”

  “What if she’s evil?”

  “One step at a time, Zane,” I said. “But Rowan’s right. Everything comes with a price. She’ll expect something in return.”

  “Something beyond your accepting the crown?” Zane asked. “What?”

  “A sacrifice,” the spirit said as a mist began to spill out of the pages and surrounded us. “But don’t worry, there are many types of sacrifice. I need you both to live.”

  Of course, it was to her benefit to say so. We couldn’t trust anything she told us.

  “Make the pentagram,” I told Zane. “Use the torch to burn the ground.”

  He stood and picked up the torch, then started to scorch the grass. “You know we’re going to freak out the farmer who owns this land and stumbles upon a pentagram in his field,” he grumbled.

  “So we’ll glamour it,” I said, “and hope it holds.”

  I dozed off while he burned the markings. When I opened my eyes, we were encircled by a wall of mist, cutting off the twenty-foot pentagram Zane had burned into the field from the outside world. Several burning candles were clustered in each of the corners, and the Book of Sindal lay in the center, the dagger still on top.

  “Do you know what to do?” Zane asked. I could feel the nervousness rolling off him.

  “We’ll need to feed the book blood. I suspect that’s the sacrifice.”

  “How much?” he asked. “You don’t have much to spare.”

  “It could be little, or it could be a lot. I’ll give what it asks and hope she heals me in the end.” When Zane looked
uncertain, I said, “She needs me. We both know that. She’ll make sure I survive.”

  “Maybe she just needs your death,” Zane said. “What if the blood for the crown comes from you?”

  “Possibly, but I don’t think so.” Maybe I was being naïve. Nevertheless, I was out of options. If the book didn’t save me, I wasn’t sure anyone could at this point. And Lisa’s time was ticking away. “I’m ready.”

  He ran a hand over his head. “I’m not.”

  “We can’t wait much longer,” I said. “I don’t have much more time, and you know it.”

  With a stiff nod, he walked over to me and carefully gathered me into his arms.

  “Just lay me down in the middle next to the book, then step back.”

  His arms tightened around me. “I wasn’t blowing smoke up your sister’s ass, Celeste. When I told her I was in this with you, I meant it. Even this.”

  “The book could kill you, Zane.”

  “No,” he said. “She said she needs me too.”

  “What if you’re the sacrifice?” I whispered with tears in my eyes.

  “Then all I ask is that you please save Lisa for me.”

  “Zane.”

  “No, you were right, Celeste,” he said, smiling down at me. “We need to stop the Dark Set, and since you have the orb, you’re the best one to do it. If I have to sacrifice my life to bring them down, so be it. I’ve been risking my life to do this for five years.” He paused. “But if it came down to it, Celeste, I’d do it just for you.”

  He stepped into the pentagram, and as soon as he did, I could feel the shift in the atmosphere around us, like we were under pressure. My ears popped.

  “Set me down by the book,” I said.

  “No. I’ll hold you and bring the book to us,” he said, but the book was already levitating, the dagger balanced on top.

  I reached for the dagger, surprised by how heavy it felt…except no, it wasn’t the dagger that was heavy. I was impossibly weak. Zane sent me a boost of magic, enough for me to lift the blade and hold it over my left hand.

  “The mage too,” the mist said. “I need the blood of the mage.”

  “Put my feet down,” I said. “We’ll need to mingle our blood and put it on the pages.”

  “You’ll never be able to stand,” Zane said softly.

  I gave him a soft smile. “You won’t let me fall.”

  He slowly lowered the arm under my legs, cradling me close to his chest with his other arm. Holding up his hand, he told me to pierce his palm with the dagger. I did as he said, then he quickly took the dagger and pierced mine. The pain barely registered as blood pooled in my palm.

  “Now what?” he asked, sounding anxious.

  “Now we press our hands together.” And pray that this works. It had only wanted my blood and the blood of my sisters before. Why did it suddenly want Zane’s blood? Was it because we were soulmates?

  As we placed our palms together, Zane used his magic to turn the book so that the long sides of the pages were showing. Our blood began to drip onto the faint blood-stained edges. The paper soaked in the blood and seemed greedy for more.

  “What the…” Zane said under his breath as he watched.

  “When it has enough, it will open.” I hoped. “And it will show us the spell it thinks we need.”

  Mist began to spill out of the book again, but my legs were giving out. I rested my cheek on Zane’s chest as his arm tightened around me.

  Both sides of the book fell open, and the pages flipped back and forth, as if the spirit were deciding what to land on.

  “What will you give for her life, mage?” the book asked.

  “What do you want?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.

  “Your allegiance. Your devotion.”

  Zane glanced down at me.

  I shook my head. “No. You don’t have to do it. There’s another way.” Then, before he could commit, I said, “Book of Sindal, give me the Dagger of Hillcrest.”

  The pages turned to a perfect drawing of the jewel-hilted dagger, and I watched as the actual dagger surfaced on the page.

  “The Dagger of Hillcrest?” Zane asked in shock. “It’s a Samsite and Brexors legend.”

  “It’s real,” the spirit of the book said. “Just like I am.”

  I snatched the dagger and looked up at Zane. “Encapsulate us in magic.”

  He looked surprised, but it only took him a moment to do as I had asked.

  “Listen,” I said, hoping I sounded convincing enough. “We both know I’m in rough shape. We’ll get the book to heal me without a sacrifice, but before we do, you need to remove the orb and take it for yourself.”

  His eyes flew wide then narrowed. “What? No way.”

  “Zane, there’s no guarantee I’ll be well enough to use the orb tonight, but if you get a few hours of sleep and eat, you’ll be almost as good as new. You know how they operate. You’ll know how to attack. It needs to be you.” When he hesitated, I said, “You know how dangerous it’s going to be. This way you can be sure I’ll be safe.”

  Indecision wavered on his face. “What do I need to do?”

  “You need to use the dagger to cut it out.”

  “What?” he asked in horror. “No.”

  “It’s the only way. Once you’ve freed it, you can hold your hand up to it and absorb it.” Then, to make him feel better, I said, “This way, my hand will heal while the book heals my other injuries.”

  He looked into my eyes, silently pleading with me to relent, but when I didn’t, he pushed out a breath. “Okay. I trust you.” He took the dagger from me and started to drop the shield, but I stopped him.

  “No! Do it in here in case she tries to stop us.”

  I could hear the spirit’s muffled words outside our dome, but I ignored her and quickly told Zane what I’d done to connect with the orb’s magic.

  “Now, Zane. You have to do it now.”

  With a wary look, he used his magic to help hold me upright as he grabbed my right hand. I didn’t summon the orb, but I illuminated it for him. I braced myself for the pain as he slashed the flesh immediately over it, but none came. I wondered how much magic he was expending on hiding the pain of my internal injuries.

  I pushed what little energy I had toward the orb, trying to expel it from my body. When it popped free, Zane held up his hand and the orb hovered over his palm, then sank under his skin.

  The book shrieked her disapproval, but it was done.

  I was prepared for her punishment.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Zane, drop the shield and prepare to run.”

  He shot me a shocked look. “The book hasn’t healed you yet. You won’t be able to run.”

  “She’s pissed and she might not do it.”

  “Fuck that shit,” he said, the orb in his hand glowing brighter. “You’re the keeper of the book. You tell her what to do.”

  It sounded good, but I suspected it would take a lot of power to stand my ground. Power I didn’t currently have.

  “She might try to kill us,” I said. “I’m still not convinced the only sacrifice she needs is our blood.” In fact, her outraged shrieks indicated I’d just put an unexpected kink in her plan. I suspected she’d fully intended to use Zane as the sacrifice, which was why she’d so readily given me the Dagger of Hillcrest. She’d wanted me to kill him with it, a symbolic recreation of what the Samsites had done to the Brexors.

  He had the orb now, so he was no longer sacrifice material. Did that mean I would have to be the sacrifice?

  Was this what my mother had foreseen for me all along?

  “Zane,” I said, waiting until I had his full attention. “You have to stop the Dark Set. Do you understand me?”

  “We’ll stop them together, Celeste,” he insisted.

  “But if this comes down to a fight, you have to survive. You have to save Lisa and stop Donall.”

  His eyes hardened. “We’re leaving together, and we’re fighting Donall
together. End of story.” His arms tightened around me as if he intended to physically protect me from the spirit in the book. “Be ready to stand your ground. She will heal you.” And with that, his shield dropped.

  The spirit didn’t waste a second before slamming us with a wall of magic, but Zane was ready. He planted his feet into the ground as he summoned a wind to push the mist away.

  She roared with anger, her features shifting rapidly as the mist fluctuated. “You ruined everything!”

  “You want your revenge, witch?” Zane asked. “You want to destroy the Dark Set? Then join us. We will defeat them together at Celeste’s wedding.”

  “She will never marry him!” she shouted, pushing even harder.

  “No, she won’t,” Zane said. He continued to press back with his magic, but she was gaining ground. Literally. The ground rose up and buried his feet and lower legs, anchoring him to the earth. “But Donall doesn’t know that. And when the Dark Set gathers for the wedding, we’ll destroy them all. That’s been Celeste’s plan all along.”

  Suddenly the magical bombardment ended. Her face regarded us from above the hovering book.

  “Yes,” the spirit said, thoughtfully. “I can be the one to destroy them.”

  “Zane has the Orb of Power,” I said, my words barely audible.

  “We need the Crown of Blood,” the spirit said. “You were the one who was supposed to wear it, but this will work better.”

  “See?” Zane said, shaking the earth from his feet. It crumbled and fell around us. “It all worked out, so heal Celeste, and we’ll go destroy the Dark Set together.”

  “I need a sacrifice,” the book said. “To be free of the book.”

  “And you said you wouldn’t kill us. We already gave you our blood,” Zane said, turning to the side to protect me. “You’ll get nothing else from us.”

  The book hit him in the back with a sudden gust of wind. He stumbled and loosened his hold on me. I fell to the grass while she sent a stronger surge of power at Zane, hurling him out of the pentagram.

  He tried to force his way back in, but the mist had gathered around the edges of the pentagram. This mist was not controlled by air magic, though, and he could not pass it. “Celeste!” he shouted, his voice desperate. “Don’t do it!”